For winner, first Final Four awaits

Saturday

Feb 23, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 23, 2008 at 6:55 AM

The Northeast Regional High School Basketball Tournament will end today, bringing to a close what many consider the most exciting week of the season. Some coaches will tell you that the team goal at the beginning of each season is to make it to the regional.There are banners across the top of bulletin boards in many locker rooms in big bold letters - "Make it to Jacksonville." Some coaches have even placed photos of the university's coliseum on the wall as a reminder of what lies at the end of that road.Making it to Birmingham and the Final Four is just icing on the cake.Today's final day of this year's regional tournament will begin at 9 a.m., just as on previous days this week. However, the story behind each team in this game may be a little different in that this will be the eighth appearance for one school; but only the third for the other. But the last time each team played here it was defeated in the championship game.Two years ago Glencoe was playing in the regional for the seventh time. That year the Yellow Jackets defeated Locust Fork in the first round but were defeated by Pisgah in the title match. It was the fourth time Glencoe had lost in the championship game.Last year Crossville made the tournament final, losing to Pisgah. The only other time a Crossville team had played in the regional was in 1999, losing to North Sand Mountain in the first game.Since neither the Yellow Jackets nor the Lions have played in the Final Four, today will be a milestone for the winner.After Crossville's win in the first round Coach Jon Peppers said his team plays better when it can "go up tempo and put the ball on the floor." So look for the Lions to try to speed things up in today's game."These girls are so athletic that once we get to running up and down the floor they are able to create shots," Peppers added. "A lot of times we don't even have to run our offense, we can just create our shots from the fast break."Crossville did a lot of that against Hokes Bluff.Glencoe coach John Blackwell said that Crossville is a good, big team that shoots the ball well."They have an outstanding team with three seniors (starting), we only have one," he said, mentioning Mimi Williams. The Crossville seniors who start are Courtney Thacker, Felicity Adkins and Ashley Bright. There are five other seniors - Kelli Hall, Felicia Turner, Courtney Black, Whitley Bankston and Leah Dorsett.During the regular season the team split, each winning at home, so this morning's game will be a "third time is the charm" kind of deal. It will be the first regional title for the winner; the first trip to the Final Four.Although making it to Birmingham is now the goal for both teams, Blackwell said that winning has not been the focus of this team since December."Right around Christmas we lost focus to where we were as a team after we'd lost several games," Blackwell explained. "Then through our senior leadership and other players on the team we came together and found a new focus; but this time our focus wasn't on basketball, it was on God."We decided not to worry about winning and losing, but about using that (focus on God) as an example. We decided that every time we stepped on the court we would see thatas an opportunity to witness. We pray before every game, but we don't pray to win, we just pray for confidence."Since that turnaround the team has been free of injuries, free of despair and the losing has just about stopped."We lost in the county tournament in January, but since then we have won eight of our last nine games. The only loss during that streak was to Hokes Bluff in the Area 10 championship game," Blackwell said.The game could go either way. Glencoe's record is 20-10 after defeating Geraldine 56-50 in the first round. Crossville is 19-11 following its 63-58 win over Hokes Bluff.

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